Behavioral Health Resources honors nine with annual Phoenix Awards

Indian Summer Golf & Country Club's banquet hall seated approximately 100 friends of Behavioral Health Resources (BHR) including clients and former clients of the agency, therapists, more than a dozen local police officers, financial contributors and other community leaders at BHR’s 2022 Phoenix Awards event there yesterday.

The Phoenix Awards recognized five individuals who “have risen above behavioral health challenges or substance use disorders to lead successful lives” and five professionals from various agencies. All were nominated by local leaders in Thurston, Mason or Grays Harbor Counties.

In alphabetical order, here are snippets about each honoree:

Megan Buchanan

Buchanan told the group that she is “no longer ashamed of my story.”  She overcame addiction to several narcotics as part of her process through Thurston County Drug Court.  She’s now a successful real estate broker in Olympia. She credits “moral recognition therapy” and “redemption via accountability” as key components of her recovery.

Samantha Davis

Davis started her presentation by describing one of her worst days, one that ended when her then 11-year-old son told her “you’re still the best mom in the world.” This inspired her to overcome her former addiction to methamphetamines and recover her children who had been taken into foster care – twice. Years later, after benefitting from services provided by various local agencies, she works as a Parent Ally/Certified Peer Counselor at Family Education and Support Services.

Karen Pursey

Pursey described how she was “homeless, in a tent, with a dog” in 2016 when she began receiving services from BHR’s Harvest Home program, which supports women in their struggle against chemical dependency. She’s earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and now works with women who have similar histories.  

Matthew Roland

“They sat me down and asked me, ‘Do you want to die?,” Roland explained. That was four years ago.

The youngest recipient of the Phoenix Award, Roland went from weighing 120 pounds in his freshman year of high school to becoming the 170-pound high school football starting quarterback this year. He was named “defensive player of the year,” is a Running Start Program student and will enter Western Washington University next fall with junior-class status.

Sierra Vance

Vance was nominated by Jennifer Higgs-Coulthard and chose not to speak about her personal story.

Professional Services Awards

Melissa Gallardo

Gallardo is a board certified psychiatric mental health nurse practioner, or PMHNP-BC for short, and joined Providence Community Care Center Mental Health in 2019.

Tom Glaspie

Glaspie employs and supports men and women in recovery through his construction and property management services business, which is called “the second chance company” by some observers. He organizes and funds programs that go into local homeless camps to clean the camps and reach out to those who might be looking “for hope and opportunity.”

Laura Vogel

Vogel knew that Washington “would have to be better than North Dakota” when she moved here in 2018. She works for the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts where she designs and administers training and court improvement efforts statewide.  “As evidenced by the amazing stories we heard today, the work that we do as professionals in this field, and doing it well, matters in people’s lives,” she said.

Barbra Wesa

Wesa is development director at Community LifeLine which serves people who are homeless and the hardest to serve in Mason County. She’s worked there for 15 years, helping to connect hundreds of people with wraparound services for a variety of needs.

Behavioral Health Resources, established in 1956, is the oldest and largest organization of its kind here, and serves some 9,000 clients each year in Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor Counties.  For more information about services or how to support BHR, visit its website at bhr.org.